SMART-1 news item today is showing what the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment
(AMIE) is seeing.
- LRK -

This feature is over on the western edge of the Moon just above the equator.
Hope we see more of the polar regions too.
- LRK -

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>From: "ESA"
>Subject: Reiner Gamma swirl: magnetic effect of a cometary impact?
>Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 15:49:59 +0200
>
>This animation, made from images taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging
>Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows a feature
>characterized by bright albedo, and called Reiner Gamma Formation.
>
>Read more:
> http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM05FNFGLE_index_0.html

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The Virtual Moon Atlas has some information on it also and sites an image at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon - Photo Number IV-157-H1. Links below.

More information about the Virtual Moon Atlas" by Christian Legrand and Patrick Chevalley is available at http://astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html

It features a 3D real time display of the moon (including lighting conditions), but you can also set an arbitrary date to display. It contains an extensive database of features including all landing sites (Apollo, Surveyor, etc.). It also contains >1000 pictures of formations from the "Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon".

It supports OpenGL for graphics performance (but doesn't require it). About a dozen languages (apart from English) are supported via language packs.

All those features take up some space, so it's a rather big download of 362 meg for the VMA Pro version. Lighter versions also available. - LRK -

Sorry, the program runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP only.

Thanks for looking up.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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[Some of the SMART-1 news items - LRK -] http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/index.html

Snip
This animation, made from images taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows a feature characterized by bright albedo, and called Reiner Gamma Formation.
Snip

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEM05FNFGLE_0.html
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http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/SMART-1/SEML9HXO4HD_0.html

What will all the instruments do?

Multinational teams of scientists and engineers will conduct ten different investigations coordinated by a Science and Technology Operations Centre.
The instrument teams are led by Principal Investigators from Finland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. All ESA member countries are taking part, providing Co-Investigators for various experiments.

Snip

AMIE, SIR and D-CIXS Different kinds of visible and invisible light coming from the lunar surface will provide clues about its chemical composition and geological history. The ultra-compact electronic camera, AMIE, will survey the terrain in visible and near-infrared light. An infrared spectrometer, SIR, will chart the Moon's minerals. An X-ray telescope, D-CIXS, will identify key chemical elements in the lunar surface. The major scientific goals are described in the following pages.
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Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon

Search by Photo Number
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/srch_phn.shtml?IV-157-H1%7C0

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/bin/info.shtml?446
Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon Photo Number IV-157-H1

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiner_Gamma

Reiner Gamma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Reiner Gamma (γ) is an albedo feature that is located on the Oceanus Procellarum, to the west of the Reiner crater on the Moon. The center of the formation is located at selenographic coordinates: 7.5° North, 59.0° West.
It has an overall dimension of about 70 kilometers. The feature has a higher albedo than the relatively dark mare surface, with a diffuse appreance and a distinctive swirling, concentric oval shape. Related albedo features continue across the surface to the east and southwest, forming loop-like patterns over the maria.

The Reiner Gamma feature is not associated with any particular irregularities in the surface, and so the cause was a mystery until similar features were discovered in Mare Ingenii and Mare Marginis on photographs taken by orbiting spacecraft. The feature on Mare Ingenii is located at the lunar opposite point from the center of Mare Imbrium. Likewise the feature on Mare Marginis is opposite the mid-point of Mare Orientale. Thus it is believed that the feature resulted from seismic energies generated by the impacts that created these maria. Unfortunately there is no such lunar mare formation located precisely on the opposite surface of the Moon, although the large Tsiolkovskiy crater lies within one crater diameter.

The central feature of the Reiner Gamma does bear a resemblance to the dipolar formation created by iron filings on a surface with a bar magnet on the underside. Low-orbiting spacecraft have observed a relatively strong magnetic field associated with each of these albedo markings. Some have speculated that this magnetic field and the patterns were created by cometary impacts. However the true cause remains uncertain.

In early lunar maps by Francesco Grimaldi, this feature was incorrectly identified as a crater. His colleague Giovanni Riccioli then named it Galilaeus, after Galileo Galilei. The name was later transferred northwest to the current Galilaei crater.

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http://www.geocities.com/kc5lei/SWIRL2001.htm

LUNAR SWIRLS, MAGNETIC ANOMALIES, AND THE REINER GAMMA FORMATION

by Marvin W. Huddleston

ABSTRACT

Reiner Gamma is the only near side example of the elusive Lunar Swirl features. There exist only three other known examples, two on the moons far side, and another on Mercury. The origin of these surface deposits and their related magnetic anomalies are a matter of debate, which most likely will not be settled until future lunar missions. We shall here consider their nature and possible origins.

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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